The new features will make campaigns across CTV easiest to plan, activate and measure.
Google is expanding how advertisers can access live sports audiences, opening NBCUniversal’s Winter Olympics inventory to programmatic buying.
The tech giant is adding new biddable capabilities designed to make connected TV (CTV) campaigns easier to plan, activate and measure through Display & Video 360.
The move comes as live sport continues to anchor premium viewing in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
The change reduces the need for advertisers to manage live sport as a separate media discipline. The enduring appeal of mass, simultaneous viewing remains, but the industry challenge has been making that reach operate with the accountability and flexibility expected of digital channels.
Making live sports behave more like digital
By integrating NBCUniversal’s Olympic Winter Games inventory into Display & Video 360, Google is giving advertisers programmatic access to one of the most sought-after live sports environments in global media.
The winter games, which begin in February, represent a concentration of live, appointment viewing at a moment when many brands, including sportsbooks, are under pressure to prove both reach and effectiveness. The practical benefit for advertisers lies in how this inventory can now be planned and activated.
Rather than treating live sports as a siloed, upfront-only buy, campaigns can be managed alongside other CTV, YouTube and digital placements using the same tools and workflows.
Google said advertisers will be able to combine its audience signals with NBCUniversal’s live sports inventory, allowing brands to reach viewers on the television screen and then re-engage them across other surfaces as interest continues beyond the live broadcast.
Google is also simplifying how advertisers access live sports inventory. A redesigned marketplace allows brands to activate curated live sports packages in a few clicks, reducing the operational friction which often accompanies premium media buys.
Better control over frequency and fatigue
One of the persistent challenges in live sports advertising is repetition. High reach often comes at the cost of overexposure, particularly in household-based environments like CTV.
Google’s cross-device frequency management aims to address this by using household-level signals to manage how often ads are shown across screens and formats. For advertisers, this means greater control over reach versus repetition, and less risk of fatiguing audiences during long tournaments or multi-day events.
In theory, this also allows brands to spread spend more efficiently, reaching incremental viewers rather than serving the same message repeatedly to the same household.
Closing the measurement gap
Measurement has long been a weak point for live sports on CTV, especially when it comes to connecting exposure on a television screen with downstream action.
Google’s cross-device conversion feature is designed to bridge that gap. Using Google AI, the system links CTV impressions with subsequent purchases, offering advertisers clearer visibility into the performance of live sports campaigns without additional measurement costs.
For marketers under pressure to justify premium CPMs, the promise of clearer attribution, even if probabilistic, could make live sports easier to defend within performance-focused media plans.
